Four candidates for Philipsburg Borough Council placed hand-lettered signs at polling places Tuesday, campaigning for the four slots available to the six candidates on the ballot. That effort appears to have paid off.

Four candidates for Philipsburg Borough Council placed hand-lettered signs at polling places Tuesday, campaigning for the four slots available to the six candidates on the ballot. That effort appears to have paid off.

Incumbent Barbara A. Gette was the top vote-getter, with 233, followed by former code enforcement officer Wanda “Twigg” McDonald with 209. Incumbent Harry Wood came in third with 195 votes, and recreation volunteer Sharon Goss rounded out the top spots with 165.

That left incumbent and former council president Michael Wilks short with 143 votes, and independent challenger Eric Bordas out of the running with 96. There were 93 write-in votes, some of which may prove to be for current Councilman Dave Dixon, who declined to run in the spring but decided to stage a late write-in campaign in an effort to retain his seat.

The winning roster will cause another problem in another race. Goss was on the ballot twice, as the only official candidate running for the two-year seat McDonald will occupy until the end of the year. McDonald was appointed in October to fill the seat of resigned councilman Walt Chorle.

If Goss elects to take the four-year full seat, that will leave the two-year seat once again up for grabs. There are, however, 51 write-in votes for the seat.